


The decision

by no_stories_without



Category: Atypical (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2019-07-11 03:50:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15964088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/no_stories_without/pseuds/no_stories_without
Summary: Casey had just received her driving licence in the mail and had immediately driven to the ends of the nearest forest. The car park was empty, and it looked like nobody had parked there in a while. Putting the car in park, Casey jumped out of the car, quickly locking in before she began jogging into the forest.





	1. The accident

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, 
> 
> Decided to delete the last fic I wrote, seeing as I wrote that after a long day of work, right before I was supposed to head to bed... Not a smart decision. 
> 
> I hope you like this one better. I really appreciate all of you guys. 
> 
> I'll update this one as soon as poosible, can't promise anything though. 
> 
> Anyways, enjoy it! :)

Casey had just received her driving licence in the mail and had immediately driven to the ends of the nearest forest. The car park was empty, and it looked like nobody had parked there for a while. Putting the car in park, Casey jumped out of the car, quickly locking in before she began jogging into the forest. 

She had forgotten her earphones at home in her haste to get out, so she was left with her thoughts. It was terrible at home, the atmosphere was so tense between her parents, and between her and her parents. She had apologized several times, to both Elsa and her dad, but mostly to her dad. Her dad had said ‘it was okay since she was a teenager, and teenagers did stupid stuff’- which only made her feel worse. Then there was her birthday party, with Sam constantly bombarding her with wishes, which was nice at first, but quickly became bothersome. Secondly, there was a surprise birthday party, which she did not want, at all. But at the end of the day, it turned out alright. She and Izzie were friends again which- Izzie. 

The corner of Casey’s mouth turned up as Izzie’s name danced around in her brain, and her cheeks became more flushed than they already were. She thought about when they sat in her parent’s car and held hands. She still wasn’t sure what that meant for their relationship, but she frankly didn’t care as long as they still could remain friends. 

As her thoughts wandered more Evan entered her ‘Izzie-muddled brain’, and she came to an abrupt stop. She had a misstep and stumbled across a giant tree root. The short moment Casey was in the air she couldn’t help but think she deserved what happened next, after all, she was a goddam hypocrite. Going around being angry at her mum for cheating, and here she goes and bonds really fucking good with Izzie, better than she did ever do with Evan. 

Casey hit the ground with her left knee first, and it felt like something shifted. She let out a painful cry, rolling onto her back and clutching her knee to her chest. As an athlete, she was no stranger to foot injuries. She had both sprained and twisted her ankles a couple of times, but all those times combined couldn’t be compared to the pain she was experiencing now. If she had dislocated her knee she knew she wouldn’t be able to train normally for at least half a year. 

She managed to roll up into a sitting position, her teeth clenched together to avoid making any loud noises. She tilted her head to the side and inspected her injured knee. It didn’t look unusual, but considering the accident just had taken place, it would take some time to show. 

Casey looked around and tried to grasp onto the tree trunk to pull herself up but couldn’t get a good grip. She let out a mix of a sigh and groan as she slid back down to the ground. She decided to lay down on the ground. She tried to distract herself from the pain by staring at the skies, and squirrels. She tried to count them but continuously lost count every time there was a shooting pain in her knee, which was nearly constant. With a sigh, she reached for her phone in her pocket. 

She unlocked it quickly and went to her phonebook. She didn’t want to call her parents, even though her dad would be the obvious choice, him being a EMS. Her eyes jumped between two names. Evan, Izzie. Izzie, Evan. She kept going back and forth until she almost became dizzy. She decided to close her eyes and randomly call one of them, seeing as Evan was right above Izzie’s name. Gathering courage, she took a deep breath, tapped on the screen. She swiftly, without opening her eyes, put the phone to her ear. 

It rung several times, before a “Hey, Casey” could be heard from the other end.


	2. The call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys,  
> I won't be able to upload for a week or so. I've an exam next Monday, so I've to revise for that. I felt bad for not being able to update for a while, so here is a short snibit. 
> 
> The next chapters will be longer. 
> 
> Til next time  
> x

She paused, her mind going blank. Her knee beating out an uneven rhythm, and it felt unusually warm. 

“Newton!”

Casey nearly jumped out of her skin, having completely forgotten she had called someone. 

“Izzie…” She breathed out in a manner quite unlike her own. As Casey began paying attention she could hear a lot of movement the other end, frowningshe sat more up, senses on high alert as she tried to pick up what was happening on the other end. She bit her lip and waited a couple of seconds before talking. Right as she was about to ask Izzie if she was alright, she could hear something slam shut. 

“Hey, sorry about that. I had to drop my siblings off at my grandma’s.”

Izzie let out a sigh, and Casey’s frown deepened. As if sensing her worry, Izzie quickly reassured her.  
“Nobody got hurt...” Izzie paused, as if hesitant, before weakly adding “Can I come over to your place? I don’t really want to go home…” 

“Yes! Yes, of course!” Casey replied all too quickly before realisation dawned on her. “About that…” She paused. 

“What!?” Izzie exclaimed nervously. 

“I called you because I went out for a run, to… Clear my mind. I might have stumbled over a branch… Or a giant tree root. You know me, I can be such a klutz.” She chuckled weakly, her free hand playing with the grass straws around her. 

“Are you hurt?” Izzie asked. “Of course, you are, why else would you call me.” Casey could hear Izzie muttering to herself. She let out a small huff of a laugh, before wincing slightly, having moved her foot. 

“Can you come and get me? I know I should call my dad, but I just don’t want to bother him. I think I might have dislocated my knee.” She tilted her head to the side, her phone nestled between her and shoulder. She splayed one hand on her thigh, with the other she lightly poked at her knee. She let out a painful noise, praying to god, or whatever higher power that Izzie hadn’t heard it. The gods were against her today, as Izzie demanded to know where she was. Casey was unsure where exactly she was in the forest, seeing as she had run off-trail. She gave Izzie her about location before she lay back down on the ground. 

She had started to shiver, which wasn’t unexpected seeing as she was only wearing her hoodie and running shorts. She knew that if she couldn’t get the warmth in her she could catch hypothermia. 

“Izzie?” she said slowly. Izzie and Casey had agreed that she wouldn’t hang up just in case something worse happened. “Can you bring blankets? I’m really cold” 

“Casey.” Izzie sounded anxious and stressed out. Casey hoped she wasn’t far away now. “Can you get up? Maybe find a few sticks you can use as crutches? You need to move so that you don’t become hypothermic.” 

Casey glanced around herself and spotted two long sticks about 10 meters from where she was laying. Sitting up slowly she pulled her hoodie over her head, and quickly put her phone on speaker. 

“Izzie. I see a few branches, I’m going to crawl towards them now. I probably won’t be able to reply before I reach them. Alright?” 

Casey waited until she heard Izzie’s confirmation before she took a deep breath and lay back down. She began to crawl. The crawl wasn’t really a crawl, but more like she was dragging herself along the forest floor. She would lift her body up with her core and uninjured foot before carefully pushing herself towards the sticks with her foot. She kept at it for a few minutes, Izzie’s voice had become background noise. Just as she reached her destination, she could hear the engine turn off on the other end. 

“I can see your car. Where about are you?” Izzie slammed the door shut and began walking towards the forest line. 

“I ran on the trail for about 5 minutes, before running off the trail.” Casey hadn’t run far off-trail before she had her accident, and she informed Izzie about so. “I can try to get back to the trail? So you can find me more easily?” Izzie hummed in agreement, her breaths coming out in short huffs, informing Casey that Izzie had started to run. 

She managed to get a hold of one stick, with one hand pushing herself off the forest floor, the other gripped the stick tightly. When she was in a crouch, her injured foot sticking straight out, she grabbed hold of the other stick. She managed to stand up and realised the sticks would act more like walking sticks than crutches, but they were better than nothing. 

“Izzie? I’m walking towards the trail now,” she managed to huff out before she began the awkward dance towards the trail. She was hobbling, and if there were onlookers, they would say there was only a matter of minutes before she toppled over. 

She got into a rhythm and before she knew it she had reached the trail. She took several deep breaths, resting most of her weight on the sticks. She kept glancing in the direction she knew Izzie would come from, hoping she would come soon. Casey wasn’t sure she had must strength left to keep herself upright. She realised she no longer could hear Izzie’s breath on the speaker, and quickly reached for her phone. 

“Fuck,” she exclaimed, her batteries having run out. Her anger was short-lived, as she could see Izzie rounding the corner. Casey couldn’t help but smile. Izzie was here.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey,  
> I wrote this chapter listening to Norwegian music and the Hercules sound track -weird combination I know? The funniest part is that I've never seen Hercules, it was just that one of the Norwegian songs remineded me of "Go the Distance". Anyways I'm babbeling, I'm sure most of you don't even read these? *insert laugh emoji*
> 
> Please critic if you'd like. This will probably the longest text I've ever written, both in my mother tongue, and French and English. 
> 
> Also, do you in the US use 911 for every emergency phone line? Fire, police and ambulances? We have three different here in Norway, of course, you could call the police and they could transfer you, but you would normally call the different numbers depending on what help you need 
> 
> Edit. It's been a while since a wrote this author's note. Currently I'm listening to my favourite spotify playlist, it's peaceful music - that's the best way to decribe it. I can link it if people would like. 
> 
> Also I passed my maths engineering exam and my driving test, so I'm quite happy atm :D. I've spent a couple of years working towards getting my driving licence, I took it for manual cars. Also, most people over here take have their licence by the time they're 18-22, so I'm in the middle, which is good? Again I'm ranting... 
> 
> Enjoy  
> x

From far Casey could see the worry in Izzie’s face, her eyes frantically searching around before they landed on Casey. Casey grinned one of her signature grins, and began “walking” towards Izzie, meeting her halfway.

Casey let out a breathless ‘hi’ before Izzie engulfed her in a hug so strong that Casey nearly toppled over from the sheer force of it. However, before she did Izzie grabbed hold of her shoulders, keeping her upright. 

“You dick,” Izzie said hitting Casey on the shoulder lightly. 

Casey raised an eyebrow, one side of her mouth turning up in a slight smirk. “Oh, I am the dick here?” She raised her eyebrows, her eyes playful. “You’re the one who nearly ran me down.” She paused, her smirk growing, "And you hit me."

Izzie laughed, a slight blush colouring her cheeks. Their eyes met, and Izzie’s laugh quieted. They stared at each other, their heads closer than before. Casey rested her forehead Izzie’s. Just as she opened her mouth, a horrible pain shot down her leg. She squeezed her eyes shut, clenching her teeth together to avoid letting out a painful groan. 

Izzie who had been busy analysing Casey’s face sprung quickly into action. She threw one of Casey’s arms over her own shoulders. Izzie was shorter slightly shorter than Casey, so it made it a bit easier for Izzie to pull her along, seeing as Casey already was slumped. 

They didn’t talk much on the way to the car. Casey to busy keeping herself upright to concentrate on anything but that. Izzie, on the other hand, kept thinking of the incident in the car. She couldn’t stop thinking about the feeling of Casey’s hand in hers. It felt so right, but she knew it shouldn’t. Casey had a boyfriend, it wasn’t fair to Even, or Casey for the matter. She shook her head, trying to bring herself back to reality. 

“Iz,” Casey managed to stammer out. Izzie’s head immediately snapped up, and they came to an abrupt halt. Izzie’s eyes scanned up and down Casey, searching frantically for something. Casey began to lean her entire body weight on Izzie, having exhausted herself. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times. It wasn’t that she didn’t know what to say, she did. Her brain was just having problems sending signals, making it impossible for her to talk. Most of it was probably due to her having lain in the cold wet grass for god knows how long. It took her a while, but she eventually managed to stammer out a question. 

“I-is the c-car far away?” Casey snuggled her face into Izzie’s shoulder desperately seeking warmth. Then and there Izzie made the decision to call the ambulance. She called 911, and quickly giving her name and phone number, before proceeding on where about they were. 

During the phone call Casey tried to make Izzie hang up, mentioning several times how it wasn’t necessary, but Izzie wouldn’t listen. The dispatcher said they would send the nearest ambulance their way. 

“God. I hope it’s not my dad,” Casey muttered as they began walking again. If Izzie had estimated correctly they about 5 minutes walking distance from the cars. She bit her lip in thought, before stopping again. 

“Jump onto my back,” She told Casey. Casey’s eyes widened in slight shock and she leaned away from Izzie. 

“Whaaat. No!” Casey exclaimed and tried to cross her arms, but since both were keeping her upright, she was unsuccessful. Izzie just stared at Casey, knowing she would eventually win this battle. 

“It’s not that far,” She told her gently, tilting her head to the side and smiling her signature smile. “Besides,” Izzie added, “If you’re too heavy, I’ll just throw you off my back and leave you here to starve.” She smiled mischievously, raising her eyebrows. Casey’s demeanour faltered, and she could feel a slight smile tugging at her lips. 

“Oh yeah?” Casey challenged her, a full-blown grin on her face. “You wouldn’t survive a day without me mat Clayton.” The grin had been replaced by a smug one, as Casey waited for Izzie’s comeback. 

“I won’t. Not at first at least. But with a little help from Quinn’s locker and being the fastest one on the team, I will eventually cope.” Izzie winked at Casey before turning her back to her, gesturing for Casey to jump on to her back. Casey hesitated slightly, before quickly climbing onto Izzie’s back. 

Izzie smirked mischievously, as she pretended to collapse at Casey’s weight. Casey slapped Izzie’s shoulder lightly and laughed as she said, “Rude!” Izzie laughed before she began walking. They chatted on the way to the parking lot. Mostly about their siblings, and to complain about the classwork. 

Izzie unlocked the car quickly and let Casey carefully down in the passenger seat. She disappeared to the boot to grab a couple of blankets. She wrapped one around Casey’s shoulders, with the other she covered her legs. Izzie crouched down in front of her, biting her lip in thought, her eyebrows furrowed in thought, her eyes cast at the ground. Casey spent some time admiring Izzie. Her black hair put up in a ponytail, the red hoodie which looked really good on her. Her black joggers Her black and white trainers. Casey’s eyes wandered back to Izzie’s face, staring in awe at her friend. She lost track of long they spent staring at each other. Their staring contest stopped abruptly when they could hear sirens in the distance. 

Izzie stood up and walked towards the road so that the ambulance crew would know where they were. Meanwhile, Casey was feeling quite guilty for the way her heart picked up the pace every time she heard Izzie’s voice or saw her face. 

The sirens were getting louder and louder. Casey decided to decide what she would do on a later occasion. She moved her gaze to Izzie and watched as she began waving her arms jumping up and down to alert the ambulance crew. A few seconds later an ambulance drove into the parking lot. Izzie jogged over to the crew and quickly led them to Casey. 

As the crew approached Casey breathed a sigh of relief, pleased that her dad hadn't arrived at the scene. One of the EMTs inspected her knee, while the other took her temperature after Izzie told him how long Casey had lain on the ground. Luckily Casey didn't have hypothermia, but her temperature had fallen down to 35 degrees. 

Izzie, had moved to the driver's seat, to remain close to Casey, while at the same time not being in the way of the EMTs. As Casey let out a painful hiss, Izzie quickly reached for her hand and squeezed it gently. Izzie moved closer to Casey, but held back, not wanting to make Casey to uncomfortable. She did move closer once the EMTs told them that Casey's knee was dislocated. 

They both knew a dislocated knee would make you unable to train for a couple of months, even more, if it was severe. The EMT's decided that they would have to do an X-ray before trying to reset the knee in case there was any further damage. 

Casey went with the EMTs, while Izzie drove her car to the hospital. She wished she could have joined in the ambulance, but she needed her car to drive her siblings around and to get to school. 

The ambulance had turned the sirens back on, and Izzie was allowed to follow them at the same speed to the hospital.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Izzie sat in the A&E waiting room, as she waited impatiently for her friend to come back out. She bit her lip in worry as she played with her phone spinning it around like a fidget spinner. 

"Izzie?" She frowned, trying to place the voice, before lifting her gaze to look right into the eyes of Sam.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg sorry for being away for so long. A lot has happened. I got a full-time job, in my gap-year so I've only worked. I was recently diagnosed with Aspbergers (Norway still uses the old model as well). 
> 
> I had completely forgotten about this fanfiction to be honest with you folks. Hopefully, I'll be better at uploading new chapters soon. I've also gone over the last chapters and corrected the spelling mistakes I noticed :D

Her eyes widened in surprise, and she gaped slightly. She realised what she was doing and tried to mask her surprise, but to her dismay Sam had already noticed. 

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Sam asked curiously, as he fiddled with a rubber band and a pencil. 

Izzie knew there was no point in lying to Sam, so she asked him to sit down next to her. He quickly swung his back-pack off and sat eagerly down next to her. She paid attention to his face as she told him what had happened. During her tale Sam frowned, paying rapid attention to both her story and the overwhelming sounds of the A&E. The strumming of the pencil against the rubber band increased, as the sounds around him became his only focus. He could her the kids crying, the squabbling of married couples, the laughter. He began rocking in his chair. 

Izzie had paid attention to this and had stopped in her tale. Unsure of what to do, she reached for his backpack. Casey had told her about Sam’s headphones. She quickly reached for them and turned them on. Very gently she tapped on the armrest of Sam’s chair, without success. She gently tried to call his name, with the same outcome. She paused, before deciding on what to do. Very gently and carefully she put the headphones over Sam’s ears. Luckily it helped. Sam decreased rocking, and he gently put the fiddling down in favour of pressing the headphones more firmly to his ears. 

Izzie paid rapid attention to Sam, searching her brain for anything that could help. The only thing she knew Sam really liked were butter noodles and churros, and neither were sold in hospitals. She bit her lip in thought, wanting to help Casey’s older brother as much as she could. 

After some time, Sam’s rocking stopped, and he turned his attention to Izzie’s ear. “Thank you,” he said loudly nodding slightly before turning his attention to his pants, pulling slightly at the fabric on the knee. Izzie smiled, and was about to say something when Casey was rolled out in a wheelchair. She quickly stood up and rolled her over to were Sam was sitting. 

If Casey was surprised, it didn’t show. When they came to a halt next to Sam, Casey lightly punched him on the shoulder. “HEY!” Sam exclaimed, turning his attention to Izzie and Casey. He took his headphones off, and quickly continued talking “Why did you that for?” He paused noticing the wheelchair. “Why are you in a wheelchair? Did you fall?”

Izzie watched their interaction and smiled softly as Casey explained what happened. She admired their relationship, and it made her long for a family such as Casey’s. Much less dysfunctional than her family (Casey had told her all about what had happened with Elsa). 

She put on the brakes on the wheelchair, before grabbing herself a chair, moving it next to Casey. She leaned towards her, not so close that they were touching, but close enough so she could feel the warmth radiating off Casey. 

The EMT’s had covered her lower body in blankets, and given her a warm sweater to wear, while she waited for the results. Casey’s temperature was at 35.7, and steadily rising – as the nurses informed her. 

She was so in her own world that she didn’t notice the soft gaze and smile sent her way, but when Casey reached for her hand and intertwined it with her own, she finally felt slightly at peace.


	5. Chapter 5

It had been a week since the accident in the woods. Casey was still allowed to school, she didn't really understand why. She was fully capable of moving around with her crutches, up and down the stairs. She could even run away , more of a hobble according to her dad, when she mocked Sam.

As she lay staring at the ceiling one person kept flooding her brain. Izzie. Izzie's worried voice when Casey called her for help. Izzie laugh after she joked that Casey was too heavy to carry. But the most vivid thought was of Izzie's calming voice during Sam's breakdown. She hadn't told Izzie yet that she had watched from the moment Sam spiralled. The nurses had left her by the resection to fetch her a extra blanket. She hadn't seen Izzie since her dad drove them home from the hospital. 

Casey sighed and turned over on her side. The next face to flood her brain was Evan, Evan, her nice caring boyfriend. She frowned slightly, at the last word. She hadn't really had anything to do the last week other than think. Think about her and Evan. He had even visited a couple of times. Each time he went to leave he leaned towards her to press a kiss to her lips, and each time she turned her face, letting him peck her cheek instead. 

"Casey!" her dad called

"Yeah, dad?" 

"Evan is here, I'm letting him up". 

She sighed and took a deep breath, before pushing herself up. Biting her lip in thought, she nodded slightly to herself, before Evan entered her room. 

"Hey." He stood in the doorway, awkwardly wringing his hands togheter before entering her room. 

"Umm, your dad told me to keep the door open soo." He chuckled awkwardly as he scratched the back of his neck. 

Casey shot him a quick smile, before patting the space on the bed next to her. Faking a smile as Evan all but leaped on to her bed, laying his head to rest on one of her many pillows. 

" Soooo, what's up?" Casey asked, as she glanced around the room, trying to gather some curage. 

"Well you know, my girlfriend hasn't really been responding to any of my calls or texts, so I came to check if she was alive," Evan started with a reading grin. 

Casey flushed slightly, before muttering a quite "I forgot."

Evan chuckled and reached for Casey's hand, gently intertwining their fingers, Casey let him. 

"Evan, there's something I need to tell you." Casey all but rushed out. 

Evan nodded patiently, removing his hand from her grasp, before he gently began playing with her fingers. One side of Casey's lip quirked down at the action. 

"I..." She paused, trying to figure out away to explain. "I don't think I'm in love with you." She bit her lip to keep her mouth shut. 

Evan paused in his actions, hand pulled his hands away. Searching her face for any- Casey didn't really know what he was searching for. 

He nodded somenly, before he too sat up.

" You like someone else don't you?" He asked, his gaze firmly fixed on the hallway. 

"Yeah," She let out gently. 

"Have I met him?" 

Casey took a noticeable breath before responding, "Yes, you've met her." She paid rapt attention to Evan's reaction to the use of pronouns. To her surprise Evan didn't even react. 

"Did you know?" Casey probed gently. 

Evan shrugged slightly. 

"I suspected it." He paused before continuing. "I'm happy for you Casey, but I think we both can agree it's best we break up."

He stood up and walked before casey could even respond. Right as she was about to call his name to stop, to let her finish speaking, he stopped in the doorway, and turned to face her. 

" I think it's best don't speak for a while. I want to remain your friend casey, I do. But I need a break." 

He closed her door as he exited. 

Casey lay back down on the bed, too overwhelmed with emotions to do anything but stare at the ceiling. 

She didn't know for how long she stated before she was brought out of her revive by her phone ringing. Izzie's name and face lighting up her screen. She answered swiftly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry. I've been so overwhelmed. With work and other things going on with my life. This is a short updated, hopefully the next will be longer.
> 
> Follow me on tumblr if you'd like:  
> hakkepeiling


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